Rail assemblies are often used in manufacturing systems to move and grip objects. Known rail assemblies usually include removable arms mounted in receivers, which are attached to a rail. Commonly, a plurality of receivers are disposed along the length rail so that properly connected arms facilitate moving and gripping of objects.
Once an arm is mounted in the receiver, it may desirable to determine whether the arm is properly connected into the receiver. However, because the end of the arm is encased in the receiver, it may be impossible to determine if the arm is properly mounted through a visual inspection of the connection.
Further, different job processes may require different types of arms. Thus, it is possible to mount an arm that is incorrect for a given job into the receiver due to operator error. If the job begins with an incorrect arm, the rail assembly may need to be shut down to correct the error. Although sensors and/or mechanical keying systems may be incorporated into the rail assembly to detect whether the arm is fitted correctly into the receiver, currently known systems are unable to detect whether a given arm inserted into the receiver is correct for a particular job. Thus, even though there are ways to determine whether the physical connection between the arm and the receiver is secure, there is currently no known way to determine whether the arm is correct for a particular job.
There is a desire for a system that can detect whether a correct arm for a given job is correctly fitted into a receiver.